A Power on the Rise Pt. II
by David3
Summary: The follow-up to the first one...tell me what you think.


The president whistled in surprise as he was led out of the Soviet facility

The president whistled in surprise as he was led out of the Soviet facility. He was just about to mentally celebrate when he saw Yuri striding up towards him.

"You see, Mister President…we are letting you free. You may go back to America if you wish."

"All right, Yuri. But first, let me send a message to the vice-president. He'll need to know that I'm on the way."

__

Then he would know, Yuri thought to himself. He racked his brain for a plausible compromise. "You may transmit a message once you exit Russia." _Tanya should be in our hands by then._

"Fair enough. Who do you plan to abduct in my place, Yuri?" the president asked, obviously hoping to gather some information.

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise for you, would it, Mister President?" Yuri ordered the president onto a Jeep with another Russian. He turned to the driver. "Vladimir…make sure he gets out of Russia." Vladimir smiled and revved the engine.

***

__

The president has to be here by now! Tanya thought furiously. She had been waiting at the Russian control room upwards of 15 minutes. She contacted the vice-president. "He's not here by now…maybe he got captured, or worse. I've got to go in and find him."

The vice-president shook his head. "The door opening would give you away. You'd be rounded up like chickens."

"We've got to try something. The president of the United States is inside that building--well, according to his transmission," she added ruefully.

"All right, Tanya--I'm trusting you with this one. Just don't get captured…I don't think anyone will be up to rescuing you."

"I'll do my best." Laughing softly, she terminated the comm. link. She turned to one of the forensic code specialists next to her. "Try to find the access code to that door, will you? I'll mobilize the rest of the troops while you and your friends get to work on it."

"Moving in."

As the 2 'code guys' (as Tanya called them) worked on the door, Tanya was having a little pep talk with her troops. "All right, boys--this mission is going to be tough. Some won't make it," _Actually, a lot won't make it_, "but we all must realize that we are doing our duty to the United States. Are you ready?" A chorus of 'yes's' greeted the final statement.

Tanya walked back to the men at the door. "Almost ready?"

"We're working on the base decryption sequence now. Whoever sealed this door did a good job…they put up an awful lot of fail-safes in the sub-programming--"

"I'm glad to know it's going well." _They think they're so smart!_ Tanya said to herself.

The man's friend gave him a 'I don't know' look and continued working on the door.

A few minutes later, the door code was finally available. "We've got it all set for you, Agent Tanya. Just open her up any time you plea--" A muffled thumping noise was heard. The troops around Tanya looked at the man in horror; he had a hole shot out of his throat.

Tanya took action. "Get down people! They've got snipers! Get down!" She winced as the soldier that had reported the trail status went down. _Poor kid_, she thought to herself.

Once everybody was down on the ground, the shooting stopped. Tanya breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, an officer under Tanya's command stood up. She was about to yell, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" when he turned around and opened fire on the people in hiding.

__

Psi corps! She thought furiously. There was only one thing she could do. She took up her guns and fired. The controlled man went down. "All right, men. Retreat! I repeat, retreat! Fall back to position 3-5-Alpha and await my orders!"

Just as she started to go with the others, a strange feeling entered her head. It was as if someone was trying to share her mind. She struggled with it, which was getting harder by the second, until finally something snapped inside her. She couldn't explain it later, but she just sort of…imagined a wall coming between her mind and the intruder. A few seconds later, she passed out with the effort.

***

Inside his facility, Yuri rocked back on his heels. He removed his psychic device with a yell. It was just in time--the device short-circuited and exploded. He stood there and looked at it, rather shocked.

"What happened?" Sophia demanded.

"It was the one I tried to control…it must have been Tanya. How she could have known how to do that without proper training is beyond me…Sophia, think about the last time you saw Tanya in person." Sophia grimaced at the thought. "Tell me how you can tell me and Romanov apart."

"Romanov has no…I can't quite explain it. It is as if some sort of psychic aura surrounds you, but Romanov has none."

"Tell me how Tanya's looked," Yuri asked.

"I could see none at the time," Sophia said, frustrated.

"Then she could not possibly have remained conscious. Mobilize a search team and find out where Tanya was…better yet, I think it is time you tried something else with your abilities. Try and picture Tanya in your mind, and then a mental map of the area alongside it." He could tell Sophia was thinking--her eyes usually narrowed and tilted upwards a little.

"Yes…close to the gate. Blurry…2/3 of the way to the trees. Tanya is there." She abruptly snapped out of her trance-like state.

"Very good." Yuri activated his comm. unit and contacted facility security. "Search the area between the gate and the trees for an unconscious woman and bring her to me."

The guard had a skeptical look on his face, but he said, "Whatever you say, Yuri."

***

The president watched as Vladimir and his truck pulled away from him and back to Russia. _Thank God I'm out of it!_ he thought to himself. Vladimir had been generous enough to give him back his comm. device.

The vice-president's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, Will! So Tanya got you out of there…" he trailed off when he saw the confused look on the president's face.

"What do you mean, Jim? I haven't seen Tanya since I was abducted."

"But, Will…you told her to help you get out of the facility on a secure comm. channel!"

It was all starting to come together for the president. "It must have been Yuri, Jim. He was there the whole time. He probably psychically forced me to talk to you like that."

"Your neck was doing some strange things during that talking…" _The form of my resistance!_

"I've got to go back for her--"

"Don't be stupid, Will. This cycle of rescue and capture has gone on long enough. Who knows…they might just release her like they did you. I'll send you a jet…you need some rest. In America!" he added before he terminated the link.

***

"Why hello, Tanya. How happy I am to see you," Yuri said.

"Yeah, yeah. You have me here, now what do you wa--" she abruptly lurched forward in pain. She looked around the room. Yuri didn't have 'that thing' on his head…She looked around some more and saw Sophia's eyes boring into hers.

"Sophia…long time, no see." she said weakly.

"The circumstances are a little different, as you can see."

"I wish I could let you 2 argue, but I must begin your training quickly, Tanya," Yuri put in.

Tanya's eyebrows went up in the 'what the…' stance. "My training…" she said slowly. "I'll just have to warn you right now, Yuri--I can't be trained to be a heartless Soviet dog like you and your girlfriend over there. If that's what you want, then--"

"ENOUGH!" Yuri roared. "You are going to have to learn to be civil towards Sophia and I…either the easy way, or the hard way. I am only going to keep you here for a short time, but it's not for the reasons that you believe. I brought you here to give you what you always wanted…protection from the likes of me."

Tanya's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly will this protection cost?"

"Only your time, and your efforts. Sophia will explain the rest."

"You have the ability…how should I put it…to be a sort of psi corps trooper without the aiding device. You have innate psychic abilities that Yuri and myself could hardly fail to notice. We are merely asking that you explore those abilities in a…controlled environment."

"Can you tell me exactly what you did when I tried commanding you…" Yuri began.

***

"Yuri, where's Tanya. I want straight answers. Now."

"She is safe with me, Mister President. I believe she wants to have a word with you." When the president started to say something else, Yuri pointed to his head and said, "You see, Mister President? No device. She is speaking of her own free will."

Tanya's face appeared on the screen. "Mr. President, I would request that you delay a rescue operation for another 3 days at least. Yuri has showed me some fascinating things--"

"All that Yuri tells you is lies, Agent. Never forget that. He's trying to manipulate you."

"No…he taught me how to defend myself against him. He has no power over me."

"Then prove it to me, Tanya. Come back home. That's an order."

Tears were starting to ooze out of the corners of her eyes. She was obviously having a tremendous internal struggle. "But Mr. President--"

The president vanished from the viewscreen. She turned to Yuri and said, "I've got to go back."

Sophia almost choked when he said, "You may go as you will, but just remember: when you leave, you can never come back."

Tanya swallowed visibly, and then ran down the hallway towards the gate. "I can't believe that you let her go, Yuri."

Yuri smiled and said, "Even her loyalty to the United States isn't enough to keep her away, Sophia. She will come back. I know it."

"As you say."

***

Just as Tanya was about to set foot on the grass, she stepped back. She knew that she had to go now, and that any time later would mean disaster. But she couldn't give up that golden prize swaying above her nose. With new tears forming, she trudged back down the hall to Yuri's room.

"I can assure you that you have made the right choice." came Yuri's voice. Tanya glanced back once, knowing that she would probably never see the world in that sort of light again.


End file.
